Roasted Garlic Spaghetti Squash Lasagna Boats + Video

Spaghetti squash just does not get enough love. You are going to want these Roasted Garlic Spaghetti Squash Lasagna Boats after you see how easy and delicious they turned out!

Everywhere you look this time of year it is pumpkin this, pumpkin that, throw in a few giant handfuls of butternut squash (my all time favorite) and a handful of acorn too, but spaghetti?

I only see it every so often and I just do not know why.

Granted, I am a total butternut squash freak. Acorn comes close behind and then pumpkin, but spaghetti squash is still awesome, and it totally lets you get away with eating melty cheese and not feeling an ounce of guilt.

AHHHH yes.

I am not one to replace a carb with a veggie, but for these lasagnas it works.

Watch the how-to video here:

They are pretty easy and a good lighter option when you still want something cozy, but just not so heavy. Typically, I just do spaghetti squash as a side with some butter. I know it sounds so simple, but it is probably my family’s favorite way to eat it. It just lets the flavors of the squash shine.

But, I have been wanting to make a lasagna for weeks now and finally one day I just thought, “let’s make spaghetti squash lasagna boats”! I think I just really liked the name.

Or the idea of spaghetti squash boats.

The picture in my head just looked so cute. So I went with it.

I gotta say, I was pretty nervous.

But oh my gosh, they could not have turned out better. So stinkin good.

Whenever I make lasagna I pretty much always swap the beef for spicy italian sausage. For these I used chicken sausage to try to keep things on the lighter side…..

But then I went and added Béchamel sauce. Creamy, cheesy béchamel sauce. Really, you can’t do a good lasagna without a good béchamel. It just sinks into the noodles and magic happens.

Hey, at least I tried to keep it on the lighter side. It is the thought that counts right?

These are the perfect thing for guests too!

Individual boats make it so fun and so cute. People will be impressed. Trust me!! Just serve it with a side of bread, some wine and a good dessert and you are golden.

Oh, and you can totally assemble them ahead of time and then just bake them before dinner. So awesome.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Chop off the top portion of the garlic head to reveal cloves. Peel any excess paper/skin off from the bulb of garlic. Pour about a teaspoon of olive oil on top the garlic cloves and cover with foil. Roast in a baking dish for 45 minutes, or until golden brown and soft. Allow to cool and then squeeze garlic out of the paper skin into a small bowl and mash well with a fork, set aside.

At the same time roast the squash. Slice the squash lengthwise and rub a drizzle of oil all over the cut side of both squash halves and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Place cut side down on a baking sheet and bake about 30 to 45 minutes, or until the squash is just tender enough to scrape into strands. You want it to be barely tender, it will continue cooking later. Remove from the oven and scrape the squash into strands.

Reduce the oven to 350 degrees F.

While the squash bakes make the sauce. In a large skillet, cook 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the pancetta over medium heat, stirring, until the pancetta is lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add the onion, bay leaf, thyme and sage and cook, stirring until the veggies are softened, about 5 minutes. Push to the veggies to the side of the pan. Increase the heat to medium-high. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to the center of the pan and crumble in the chicken sausage and cook without stirring for 3 minutes. Break up the meat and continue to cook, stirring occasionally until well browned, about 3 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, basil and 1 cup water to the skillet. Simmer, stirring occasionally until thickened, about 15-20 minutes. Once the sauce has thicken a bit, discard the bay leaf and season with salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and stir in the mashed garlic.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and cook, whisking constantly, for 1 minute. Whisk in the milk in a steady stream and simmer for 2 minutes, whisking throughout. Remove from the heat, stir in all of the provolone and season with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Let cool, stirring occasionally to prevent a skin from forming.

To assemble the boats, remove a little of the squash strands from each boat. Then place a layer of the meat sauce on top of the remaining strands, then a layer of the cheese sauce, then layer the removed squash strands on top of the cheese and divide the remaining meat sauce among the boats. Lastly, top with the remaining cheese sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese. Place the squash on a baking sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes at 350, or until the squash are warm throughout and the cheese is browning. Remove from the oven and let sit 5 minutes. Garnish with fresh sage, fried sage or basil. EAT!

You know..my husband just asked me the other day if I could make individual lasagnas for him and the guys when they go to the cabin during hunting season. While I know that he meant individual in small baking pans, I just think this would be so awesome, and I know that they would love it, not only for their taste, but for easy clean up too!! This is just awesome!

I heart this. And it would be so much fun for a party! I’m planning on making spaghetti squash this week and I might just have to make this version. Oooh, ooh, you could also fill them with chili for a superbowl party! So much fun. You provide the best ideas.

Oh. Wow. I just wanna reach right through the screen and grab all that cheese. I know it’s crazy, but I have never had spaghetti squash in my life. Looking at these incredible squash lasagna boats makes me think I that that has to change very soon!

Great minds think alike Tieghan! I was just about to post my recipe for this next week! HEHE! I tested the recipe and MAN this is good! I love that you added pancetta! Everything is better with pancetta! LOL! Plus you did a phenomenal job styling and photographing! I LOVE it! Beautiful! Pinning!

I was at daughter’s last night when she was gone and I scrounged through her fridge for a leftover for dinner. I actually thought what I found was spaghetti til I ate it…but it was spaghetti squash and I wondered why I didn’t make it more often too. It was mixed with corn and peppers and a cream sauce and it was divine. I buy my garlic from Costco and roast half a bag of them when I first bring it home…so this I can make easily; sounds great!

Totally mouthwatering, not to mention your BEE-yoo-tiful photography, Tieghan! It’s a wonder I’ve done everything to spaghetti squash except serve it like I would serve spaghetti… ravaged with tomato sauce and mozz! This is a must-try!

I made these the other night and they were great! …only one little hang up- they were watery at the bottom. This is my first time cooking with Spaghetti Squash so I wonder if there is a method to keeping them a bit dryer? My meat sauce was perfectly thick! The cheeseyness layer was fab! Loved it all but the watery bottom. Let me know if there is anything I should try differently next time!

Hmm, did you back the squash flesh side down? That is the only thing I can think that would make it so watery. I have had some watery squash before though and sometimes there us just nothing you can do. I have cooked a lot of squash and every one is different, but I ha getting super watery ones!

I just wanted to thank you for this recipe. Many of the recipes I try off Pintrest turn out so so but not this one. The. Sauce. Is. AMAZING! They were so good my husband even liked them. I feel more fulfilled in life because of how good (and pretty healthy) they were. Thank you so much.

My daughter made this and I literally thought I’d died and gone to heaven. I even commented when I was finished mine that I was actually “sad” that mine was all gone. Will definitely be making this when I get home. AMAZING!!!!!

Hey Samantha, you can do this with butternut squash, but it will not be like pasta. Still good, but butternut squash does not form strands like spaghetti. Spaghetti squash is typically sold with butternut squash in the grocery store. It is normally oval and yellow in color. Hope that helps and let me know if you have any more questions! Thanks!

I tried this yesterday for dinner and I followed to the tee and it did not disappoint. OMG the flavors!!!. I took a picture but it did no justice but I will send to you anyway. Thank you for sharing this amazing tasty recipe.

So this was my first time making spaghetti squash…I have wanted to try it for a while but I’ve been intimidated by it but then I saw your recipe and it looked so good that I went straight to the store to buy the stuff I needed. I have also never roasted a whole garlic bulb before. So I checked the squash after about minus and it was so mushy that it caved in when I poked it with the fork. Then when I started scraping the sides there was so much liquid it was making puddles in the noodles. I totally saturated like 10 napkins soaking up liquid from just one half. Other than it cooking super fast and being so liquidy it tasted great! I ended up layering it in a casserole dish bc the sides of the squash just fell apart. Then I poured of more liquid once it was finished baking. I will say for someone who LOVES pasta (but is severely allergic to gluten) I will make this again! I didn’t use the cheese sauce bc I was afraid it was already too runny but I look forward to making it next time…1 more question…I am allergic to all cheese except mozzarella. Do you think the sauce would be good made with mozzarella. If not I can just layer extra mozzarella like I did tonight. Thanks for the recipe and the courage to tackle a veggie I was super intimidated by ☺

I forgot to say the garlic was good, too! I don’t think it was roasted quite long enough (I pulled it out the same time I did the squash and since the squash was so done I thought the garlic would be also but I think it should have gone a little longer, but, it still had a GREAT flavor. I ate the casserole as soon as I popped it our of the oven but them later when I was putting away the leftovers I ate a little more and it tasted even better! All the flavors had melded together even more and it was delicious. It tasted exactly like lasagna. I couldn’t taste any flavor of the squash standing out (which is good for me bc I’m not a huge fan of plain squash) again, thank you!

this is the second Time I’ve made this and I used Italian Turkey saucAge; and I didn’t do the bechemel sauce But it was great with my tweeks!! My family loved them !! This was my first time eating Spaghetti squash too!! This will become a staple In my menu book!!

This was very good. I used breakfast sausage instead of chicken (couldn’t find any), but it worked. They were huge, though, so next time I might plan for half a squash per person. It was also time intensive, but I made it on a Sunday when I had the time. Overall a delicious alternative to traditional lasagna.

Seriously one of the most delicious recipes I’ve ever made! I did take some of the fun out of it by layering ingredients in a lasagna pan. I also added a half container of leftover mascarpone to the bechamel sauce, which was pretty tasty. Thanks.

Hi Carol! I have not personally tried freezing the leftovers, so I cannot say for sure whether or not it would affect the texture. I think it would be fine, maybe slightly soggy though. Sorry I could not help more, but please let me know if you give it a try. Thanks so much!!

Making this for the hubby tonight! Actually for me we had a very heavy dinner last night I made for him at his request and tonight’s recipe is more for me a little more veggies… while making it though he did walk by look over my shoulder and said “And you are having what for dinner?” Always a good sign especially before it’s completely cooked. Made a few small changes like I added several handfuls of fresh spinach, traded a bechemel for marscapone, and I had homemade spaghetti sauce from last weekend and I used it up. I can not wait to test this out. Thanks so much for the recipe.. oh and it’s our first time having spaghetti squash… which is strange because I am a squash fan! Have a wonderful day and I can’t wait to check out some of your other creations.

Just saw your comment here, when I made these for my family, I made two squash and it was a lot of food. I would figure at about foot ball size squash a half of squash per person, with all the stuff inside! But the left overs are amazing so nothing will go to waste! Lol

How many large spaghetti squash would you use for this recipe? My squash bigger than a football, so I was thinking maybe 1 (2 at the most). Looking forward to making this recipe 🙂

Just saw your comment here, when I made these for my family, I made two squash and it was a lot of food. I would figure at about foot ball size squash a half of squash per person, with all the stuff inside! But the left overs are amazing so nothing will go to waste! Lol

Making this for the hubby tonight! Actually for me we had a very heavy dinner last night I made for him at his request and tonight’s recipe is more for me a little more veggies… while making it though he did walk by look over my shoulder and said “And you are having what for dinner?” Always a good sign especially before it’s completely cooked. Made a few small changes like I added several handfuls of fresh spinach, traded a bechemel for marscapone, and I had homemade spaghetti sauce from last weekend and I used it up. I can not wait to test this out. Thanks so much for the recipe.. oh and it’s our first time having spaghetti squash… which is strange because I am a squash fan! Have a wonderful day and I can’t wait to check out some of your other creations.

I am sure you will become obsessed with spaghetti squash after your first time haha! I hope you and your hubby love this recipe Heather! Thanks so much!

Seriously one of the most delicious recipes I’ve ever made! I did take some of the fun out of it by layering ingredients in a lasagna pan. I also added a half container of leftover mascarpone to the bechamel sauce, which was pretty tasty. Thanks. Have you tried freezing leftovers? I often make big batches so I have leftovers for another meal. Wondering about the texture of the “spaghetti”

Hi! This looks amazing and i’m planning to make it this fall! would this recipe work if I halved it? Thanks!

Making this for the hubby tonight! Actually for me we had a very heavy dinner last night I made for him at his request and tonight’s recipe is more for me a little more veggies… while making it though he did walk by look over my shoulder and said “And you are having what for dinner?” Always a good sign especially before it’s completely cooked. Made a few small changes like I added several handfuls of fresh spinach, traded a bechemel for marscapone, and I had homemade spaghetti sauce from last weekend and I used it up. I can not wait to test this out. Thanks so much for the recipe.. oh and it’s our first time having spaghetti squash… which is strange because I am a squash fan! Have a wonderful day and I can’t wait to check out some of your other creations.

Do not know why its taken me 5 yrs to find your site but I do know I will be trying your lasagna boats pronto. The pictures look fabulous and cooking instructions easy to follow. One question, where and when do you add your beachamel sauce to this recipe? Thanks Teig. Kind regards, Linda

Meet Tieghan Gerard.

I’m Tieghan, the recipes you’ll find here are inspired by the people and places I love most. I try to live simply, eat seasonally, and cook with whole foods. My hope is to inspire a love for amazing food, as well as the courage to try something new!